Skip to content 5/22/2025 Despite Impressive Victories in Washington This Week, Traumatic Sorrow Looms from Anti-Semitism May 22 · 54 min ...more
5/22/2025 Despite Impressive Victories in Washington This Week, Traumatic Sorrow Looms from Anti-Semitism
May 22, 2025 · 54 min
Tony and guests offer insight to the One Big Beautiful Bill, a Maine State Rep. who regained her voice, and how anti-Semitic fueled hatred prompted the murder of two Israel Embassy staffers in DC
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio
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May 22, 2025 · 54 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio
Tony and guests offer insight to the One Big Beautiful Bill, a Maine State Rep. who regained her voice, and how anti-Semitic fueled hatred prompted the murder of two Israel Embassy staffers in DC ...more Show the full description Show less Tony and guests offer insight to the One Big Beautiful Bill, a Maine State Rep. who regained her voice, and how anti-Semitic fueled hatred prompted the murder of two Israel Embassy staffers in DC
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In this video 0:00 A Legislative Victory and Its Implications13:50 Standing Firm in Faith and Values24:25 A Legal Battle for Free Speech33:57 Rising Antisemitism and the Call for Unity45:50 Cultural Shifts and Legislative Transparency
A Legislative Victory and Its Implications 0:00 From the heart of our nation's capital in Washington DC, bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation's leaders and0:12 newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.0:18 The media and the Democrats have consistently dismissed any possibility the house Republicans could get this done. They they did not believe that we could succeed in our mission to enact president Trump's America first0:29 agenda. But this was a big 1. And once again, they have been proven wrong. Today, the house has passed generational, truly nation shaping legislation.0:40 That was house speaker Mike Johnson early this morning, just moments after the house passed the 1 big beautiful bill appropriately by 1 vote, 215 to 2 14. Welcome to0:52 Washington Watch. I'm your host, Tony Perkins. Thanks for joining us. Family Research Council action was actively engaged in some of the eleventh hour negotiations that helped to get the bill across the finish line.1:03 We'll talk about a few of those key changes with Missouri congressman Eric Burleson, a member of the House Freedom Caucus. And just 5 blocks from FRC headquarters and just steps from the capital, evil struck last night.1:15 2 young members of the Israeli embassy staff were shot and killed by Elias Rodriguez, an active member of the far left Marxist pro Palestinian group PSL.
1:25 Yaron and Sarah weren't the victims of a random crime. The terrorists who cruelly gunned them down did so for 1 reason and 1 reason alone. He wanted to kill Jews.
1:38 And as he was taken away, he chanted, free Palestine. This is exactly the same chant we heard on October seventh.
1:47 And sadly, it took place on the streets of the United States. That was Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We'll talk with Elon Carr, former US special envoy for monitoring and combating
1:58 antisemitism about the rising tide of anti Jewish violence here in the United States. There was also a significant win at the Supreme Court this week for free speech. The court sided with Maine state
2:10 representative Laurel Libby, restoring her ability to speak and vote after she was censured for a Facebook post criticizing transgender participation in high school sports. Representative Libby will
2:22 join us later in the program. And with congress heading out of town for the Memorial Day recess, we'll get a wrap up on the week from the Washington stands, Jared Bridges, and FRC's director of
2:34 government affairs, Kena Gonzalez. But first, as we look ahead to summer, I want to invite you and your family to join FRC's 21 day family bible challenge beginning June the
2:46 eleventh. We'll be walking through the gospel of Matthew, just 10 to 15 minutes of reading each day. Now over the years, I've seen the impact when families read scripture together. And I continue to hear stories
2:57 from children to, to grandparents. How this daily time in God's word has transformed lives, and it has strengthened faith. So why not start with just 1
3:09 book? And pastors, you can encourage your church to join as well. We have all the resources available for you, and you can set the tone for the summer by starting in the book of Matthew with the 21 day
3:21 Matthew Challenge. So to join us, text Matthew to 6 7 7 4 2. That's Matthew to 6 7 7 4 2 to take the challenge. Well, working through the night,
3:33 House Republicans were able to defy the odds and pass the 1 big beautiful bill. And after weeks of negotiation, some eleventh hour changes skillfully succeeded in unifying most of the Republicans
3:45 to gain this historic legislative victory. And, we're gonna be joined here shortly by congressman Eric Burleson. But before we do, I'm gonna go to Kenan Gonzalez, family research council senior director
3:57 of government affairs. Kenan, welcome back to Washington Washington. We're gonna talk a little bit more about this later. But what are some of the highlights that got this bill across the line early this morning?
4:08 Yeah, Tony. As you said, this bill really had to satisfy different parts of the Republican Party. Republicans representing high tax states wanted to see tax breaks, federal tax
4:20 breaks for folks in their states, that are related to the state and local income tax that those states charge. Other states didn't want that so much. Some, states really rely on Medicare, and
4:32 so efforts to reform Medicare and Medicaid and make those, more sustainable for the future ran into some opposition and really had to be negotiated. And finally, there were a number of fiscal conservatives
4:44 who just really wanted to put the the nation on a on a firm financial footing. And so Mike Johnson, for the last several weeks, has increasingly, in public, been negotiating between these sort of 3
4:55 wings of the Republican Party, as you said, to just get this bill through the House of Representatives last night and this morning?
5:03 And, Kayna, there were some, elements that we were working on. In fact, we had asked our listeners and viewers to weigh in on. And, later in the program, we'll talk about the outcome of that. But
5:15 I wanna go to, congressman Burleson now, so we'll, we'll we'll catch up later with the details of, folks how you made a difference, in this bill by using your voice. As I often
5:27 say, our republic was not made for spectators, but it was made for participants. Congressman Eric Burleson is a member of the House Freedom Caucus. He represents the seventh congressional district of
5:39 Missouri, and he joins us now. Congressman, welcome back to Washington Watch.
5:43 Good to be back.
5:44 I know it's been a, a long night. You attended the the White House meeting yesterday with, House Freedom Caucus members to kinda discuss through some of the, the concerns
5:56 that, you all had. Walk us through the final hours of this in reaching a point because you weren't really, on board until, kind of later in the process where
6:08 where some significant changes were made.
6:11 Yeah. Tony, I would say that, my the the bill moved from being a bill that I was absolutely not going to accept back in January.
6:23 Those numbers back then were 30 it was, like, 300000000000 dollars in in savings to pay for 5000000000000 dollars in in new tax cuts. I I ran
6:35 on on balancing the budget and not growing the deficit, and so that was something I just was too much for me to swallow. I think that Freedom Caucus and myself were successful and able to, over the
6:47 course of the last few months, get us in a position that was stronger and stronger and stronger at each step of the way. And, yes, we certainly, while we didn't weren't able to get everything that we
6:59 wanted, I think that we did we were able able to make progress this week, on Sunday and on Monday night and even into Tuesday, able to make incremental
7:10 progress on the language of the bill throughout that. And, look, it it's not perfect, but you have to take a step back. And and I took a step back and said, look. There's a lot of wins. We banked a lot of wins
7:23 in this bill. We we we were able to defund planned parenthood. That is massive. That's huge. Something that I never thought this this town would be able to accomplish. We were able to
7:35 eliminate the funding through Medicaid for transgender surgeries. We were able to, you know, reinvigorate our industry sex sector and our energy
7:47 sector, through a lot of deregulation. Obviously, extend the Trump tax cuts, which are which are huge to our economy and making sure that, middle class Americans, working Americans are able to keep more of
7:59 their money. There's an expansion of education savings accounts in this, and I believe there's an edge expansion of health savings accounts as well. All very free market ideas.
8:10 And so at the end of the day, we can bank this as a win. It doesn't mean that we have solved the debt problem, and it's just something that, we'll just have to continue to to fight for in the future.
8:22 Yeah. The the debt, as you rightfully mentioned, was a significant part of the conversation. A lot of the concern was the the savings that this 10 year and the the way that that these things are
8:34 projected, they're done over a 10 year window. All of the savings were pretty much back on the back end. But, as a result of the negotiations with the House Freedom Caucus and the
8:46 Republican leadership in the White House, those were moved up. That was moved up in the manager's amendment in the eleventh hour so that those savings will be realized starting in 20 in 20 26.
8:58 That's right. That's very much right. You know, well, in fact, this chart was 1 that we used often. And and this was what the CBO had scored. And as you can see at the beginning years, we're
9:10 actually we were actually increasing the deficits. Only by the latter years were we reducing the deficits. And so this was of of grave concern while the while the complete 10 year window did
9:22 meet the the framework of what we were requesting by backloading. And as you know, Tony, this town is known for extending a lot of the a lot of the things that
9:34 the industry wants extended. And so, you know, there was another chart that we that we demonstrated that since 19 92, the green energy tax credits have been
9:46 extended 11 times during that period. And so we just know as as elected officials, we've been there. We've been we've done that. We we're trying to we tried to and I think successfully, we're able to move
9:58 a large large portion of the savings into the more immediate years.
10:04 Which is going to realize those savings because also on the the when you look at the turnover in congress, the congress that voted for this is not gonna be here in 10 years. Just a small portion of them.
10:15 So, you know, it's it's a little deceptive. It's budget gimmickry, that we we often see with this. So, again, I commend the, the conservatives for fighting for this to get these savings up in the
10:27 front part so that we'll actually see them. But the process is not over. It now goes to the senate. So what are the what's the sense of how the senate will
10:39 handle this?
10:41 You know, I'd if history tells us anything, it it'll probably get worse. This apple might start to rot. Maybe there there may be a worm or a few worms appear, but
10:53 I do have high hopes. The senators, many of them are talking very positively about, taking the cuts that we had made and going further. And I think that the fact that in
11:05 the in the course of this these last days of negotiations, we had a Moody's Moody's downgraded the US bond rating. That that's the third credit agency to downgrade our our bond rating.
11:16 And as you know, having a downgraded rating means that every dime that we take out in new debt is going to be at a higher cost to the taxpayer and to our budget. So I think that
11:28 this is a wake up call, and I think that the senate now has the opportunity to reflect on that downgrading and hopefully be able to find more opportunities for savings.
11:37 Yeah. I would think that the White House will be leaning pretty heavily on the senate to get this moving. The speaker this morning says that he hopes to see this, on the president's desk and signed into law by
11:49 July the fourth, which means that the, the senate's gonna have to move at an unusual pace because they usually don't get things done very quickly.
11:59 Yeah. The the this town, everything moves at a very slow pace. And so but, yeah, I I I think that they get they have the time if they really commit to it, to to be able to accomplish this.
12:11 Alright. Congressman, the congress is out next week, Memorial Day, the recess. Congress will be coming back, the following week. So what, what's on tap now? What's congress gonna
12:23 it's been consumed with the reconciliation. So what's next on the agenda?
12:30 Next, we'll be working on the the appropriations or the budget for next year. So, as as you know, the our funding deadline ends September thirtieth. We need to pass,
12:42 a new appropriations bills, the the 12 appropriation bills, by September thirtieth. And that so that's what we're gonna be immediately working on.
12:51 It it seems like, as the house has been very focused in getting things done, that you're kind of, in a in a mode that it hadn't happened in a long time, but we could see
13:03 congress actually do, appropriations through the normal process. So it's it's a real possibility.
13:11 Yeah. We we went through this last year, and and and a lot of the rust came off. And so we've we've now have lawmakers that have experienced this process, and I think the muscle memory
13:23 is good. So I think we hopefully are able to pass all 12 appropriation bills. Last year, we passed, I believe, 7 of the 12. But the more that we can pass, the more that we can,
13:35 we can ensure that we have about, like, about get towards a more fiscal solvency.
13:40 Right. Right. Right. Those continuing resolutions cost us a bunch. Congressman Burleson, thanks so much for joining us. Have a great weekend.
13:48 Thank you, Tony. You too.
Standing Firm in Faith and Values
13:51 Alright, folks. Still a lot of Washington watch straight ahead, so don't go anywhere. We'll be right back after this.
14:01 In a time when Washington seems clouded by compromise, a bold group of lawmakers are standing firm in defense of the values which our nation was built upon. At FRC Action's
14:13 100 percent awards, 171 members of congress were honored for voting 100 percent in line with policies that promote faith, family, and freedom.
14:25 Faith and family made our country it's the foundation that made our country not only great, but good.
14:30 The values that make America, faith, family, hard work, first responsibility. And that to me is the heart of FRC and, grateful for everything that they do.
14:40 It's very important for us to have organizations such as FRC. First of all, I think it keeps us grounded, in addition to which the issues that you champion are issues that we should all be championing.
14:49 FRC is very, very good at honing in on those things that, really affect Christians' lives. Also, working with members of congress too to make sure that those values are instilled in the legislation that we create.
15:01 Having the Family Research Council to guide us is, critically important to being able to do the right thing consistently.
15:10 These lawmakers have drawn the line, not just in policy, but in principle. This is more than politics. This is conviction in action. Visit f r c action dot org for
15:22 more information on how you too can make a difference.
15:35 Jennifer, it's so exciting to be here with you today talking about our new book, Embracing God's Design. Who is actually gonna benefit from reading this book in your view?
15:45 There are so many different audiences that can benefit. The first 1 are counselors themselves. Right? Because we have some material in there where we really address the gender dysphoria
15:56 diagnosis and what is wrong with it. We have information for people who are wanting to go back to embracing God's design for their life.
16:05 This is really magical to have the therapist and the individual who suffered come together and write about why this is happening and why we're seeing this.
16:14 And we brought all of that experience to the table. We wanna see people walking in the fullness of who god has called them to be and not a false identity.
16:24 Preorder today at embrace the design dot com.
16:29 Family Research Council is celebrating 1 year of trusted news and community from a biblical perspective, all in 1 place. Over the past year, the Stand Firm app has become a go to source for Christians seeking
16:40 clarity, truth, and ways to make an impact in today's world. With over 46000 downloads and 1200000.0 page views, we thank you for standing firm with us. Download the Stand Firm app
16:52 today. Text app to 6 7 7 4 2. That's app to 6 7 7 4 2.
17:01 Welcome back to Washington Watch. Let me again invite you to join the Matthew challenge, the 21 day Matthew Bible reading challenge. Text Matthew to 6 7 7 4 2. It's a great time. That'd be
17:13 a great time for families to read the Bible together. Again, you can, find out more. Text Matthew to 6 7 7 4 2. We have lots of resources to help you on this 21 day challenge. Well, on
17:25 Tuesday, the US Supreme Court granted a win to Maine's separate state representative, Laurel Libby, who was censured by the Democratic controlled Maine House for insisting in a private social media
17:37 post that it's wrong to let boys rob girls of championship titles in sports. Now her petition for an injunction was approved by the court, a triumph she called a victory, not just for
17:49 my constituents, but for the constitution itself. Here to explain the significance of the court's decision is Maine state state representative Laurel Libby. Representative Libby, welcome back to Washington Watch, and
18:00 congratulations.
18:02 Thank you so much for having me.
18:04 I I I do want to commend you for your courage in standing up, and and, I'm gonna let you tell kind of explain what has transpired here. But as you stood up to the Democratic controlled
18:15 legislature, they said, well, if you apologize for stating the truth, then we'll let you speak. And you refuse to fold. And I just again, I wanna commend you for your your courage.
18:27 So the court you you appealed to the first supreme the first circuit court of appeals. They kind of pushed it aside. You went to the Supreme Court. So what does this decision that the court handed down on Tuesday mean?
18:40 We filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court specifically to get my vote back while the lower courts are considering what to do with my case. So the entire case, voice and vote, is
18:52 still pending before the first circuit court of appeals. But thankfully, the supreme court did see fit to take up the emergency application. And as of today, I am able to now
19:04 vote on behalf of my constituents. So today, I voted for the first time in almost 3 months representing my constituents fully.
19:12 Did did the speaker apologize for keeping you from voting?
19:16 No. And and I I still am not able to speak, but I can vote. I don't expect an apology. I wouldn't expect an apology because I don't think it would be, truthful.
19:28 So your your your ability to speak has not been restored?
19:33 Correct. That's part of the case that's still pending before the first circuit court of appeals. Will be heard, on June fifth regarding the full case.
19:41 So the Supreme Court just forced the legislature to allow you to vote to represent your constituents but not speak on their behalf?
19:49 Correct. They are required to count my vote now.
19:53 You know, what it was it was interesting in 1 of the justices who, writing in opposition to the to to the ruling said, there's no reason, no big hurry. You know, there's, nothing no votes
20:04 pending that her vote would make a difference. I mean, so so that's how we decide whether or not someone has a right to represent their constituents if we think it's gonna matter?
20:15 You know, there's so many things about this case that matter so much. But, you know, the constitution my constituent's constitutional right to representation, my right to free speech, these are are
20:27 core to our democracy. And, it is I'm I'm glad that, 7 of the justices saw fit to ensure that my constituents do have representation.
20:39 I think it's an incredibly slippery slope and a terrible precedent to set, not just in Maine, but across the country if this were allowed to stand.
20:48 Now I I am certain that when you posted on Facebook comparing, a a a guy who, pole vaulted the year before and placed
21:00 fifth, to this year, you know, pretending to be a female winning first in women's pole vaulting. I imagine you never thought you would be going down this
21:12 path.
21:13 Never in a million years. Never in a million years. But, you know, a lot of folks have asked me if I would do anything differently, and I really can't say that I would. I think so much has come to light here in
21:25 Maine with how Maine women and girls are being discriminated against. And, and really the tyranny going on in Augusta pushing an agenda that Maine people do not agree with. And so I'm thankful that so much has come
21:37 to light as a result, and I think it's worth anything that has happened, in between.
21:44 So so, representative Libby, let me ask you this question, and and I'm gonna get personal for just a moment. How how has this affected you in the process? What what have you learned? How has this impacted you and your
21:55 family?
21:57 Well, certainly, we've had some conversations I never anticipated, given that my kids are still growing up. They're still relatively young. But I I think that we've all learned a
22:09 lot in in the last 3 months. And I certainly do not take it for granted to have the right to free speech, to have the right to represent
22:21 the good people of Auburn and Minot. I'm grateful for a lot these days.
22:27 Has it strengthened you in your in in your faith and and in your commitment to standing for these principles no matter what, knowing that, you know, ultimately,
22:39 the truth does come out, but we have to be willing to stand for it.
22:45 I I certainly, have seen an outpouring of God's grace over the last few months and faithfulness. At times, it has not been easy,
22:57 but he has been faithful. And, we've seen that every day. And so, it's been a hard but blessed 3 months.
23:09 You know, I would like to say that that you're probably that you were the the the outlier, that no 1 else is ever gonna have to face this again. But the reality is in the world in which we're living, this is becoming
23:21 more of the norm of simply standing up for truth and and being challenged and being rejected in in in an effort to silence and cancel. What would you say to others out there that may run into a similar
23:33 situation?
23:35 Now there were multiple reasons that I did not back down and apologize, but that's certainly 1 of them. Because if you're speaking the truth and can be bullied into backing down or apologizing
23:46 for speaking the truth, I think it sets a really terrible example. To the next generation, these women and girls who are watching and seeing our example,
23:59 I think that we need to set the standard, and that is to speak up for truth and not back down.
24:05 Well, I think you have set a, sterling example of of doing it in a gracious way, but in a firm, unyielding way. Truth is truth, and we need to stand upon it. So, I I,
24:17 again, wanna commend you and and and thank you, Laurel, for joining us today.
24:22 Thank you so much.
24:24 Alright, folks. State representative, Laurel Libby from Maine. You know, Maine's a beautiful state. It just happens to be kind of left leaning, in the big cities. But no matter where you're at,Show more
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